During the course of the trial, the court may permit counsel to address the jury in order to assist jurors in understanding the evidence that has been presented or will be presented. The trial court may place reasonable time limits on such statements and shall permit all counsel to respond to the remarks of any one lawyer.
Rule 44A.Interim Commentary
Last amended July 1, 2003 · Last verified July 2, 2026
In one sentenceRule 44A lets the court, in its discretion, allow counsel to address the jury during trial with brief, non-argumentative remarks explaining evidence already presented or still to come, subject to reasonable time limits and every other lawyer’s right to respond.
Full Text of Rule 44A
Advisory Commission Comments
Amendment History
- Added by order filed January 31, 2003, effective July 1, 2003.
Plain-English Summary
Rule 44A gives the trial court a narrow tool for helping jurors follow a case as it unfolds: with the court’s permission, counsel can pause during trial to explain, briefly and without argument, what the evidence presented so far shows or what the next stretch of testimony is meant to establish. A lawyer might use it, for instance, to tell jurors in a sentence or two what legal issue the upcoming witnesses will address, giving the jury context before the testimony starts rather than making the jury piece it together on its own.
The court controls how the tool is used. It can set reasonable time limits on interim remarks, and it has to give every other lawyer in the case a chance to respond to whatever any one lawyer says — a jury does not hear one side’s framing of the evidence without also hearing from the other side. Rule 44A grew out of the same 2003 push to make trials easier for jurors to follow that produced Rule 43A’s note-taking and juror-question provisions and Rule 43.03’s reordering of expert testimony, and it fits the same purpose: giving jurors enough context to understand and weigh the evidence without turning the interim remarks into a substitute for opening statement or closing argument.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a lawyer explain the evidence to the jury in the middle of trial?
Only with the court’s permission and only briefly. Rule 44A lets the court allow non-argumentative interim remarks to help jurors understand evidence already presented or coming up next, subject to reasonable time limits.
If one lawyer gives interim commentary, does the other side get to respond?
Yes. Rule 44A requires the court to let every other lawyer respond to the remarks any one lawyer makes, so the jury does not hear only one side’s explanation of the evidence.
Is interim commentary the same as an opening statement?
No. It is a shorter, narrower tool the court may permit at any point during trial to explain evidence as it comes in, distinct from the opening statement and closing argument that bookend the trial.
Source & verification. The rule text and Advisory Commission Comments are reproduced verbatim from the
official Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure (Tenn. R. Civ. P. 44A). Prescribed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 16-3-402 to 16-3-407, 16-3-601). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 2, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: interim commentarycounsel remarks to juryjuror comprehension
Advisory Commission Comments [2003].
This new rule gives the court the discretion to allow counsel to speak directly to the jury during the trial in order to assist the jurors in understanding the context of the evidence. For example, the court may allow counsel to make a short explanation of what legal issue the next two witnesses will address. The court is given the discretion to place time and content limits on these statements, but each counsel must be given a chance to respond to the interim commentary of any lawyer.